James clinton



J. CLINTON. CLARINET.

Patented Dec. 5,1893.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES CLINTON, OF EARLSFIELD, ASSIGNOR TO THE JAMES CLINTON GOM-BINATION OLARIONET COMPANY, LIMITED, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

CLARINET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 510,119, dated December5, 1893.

Application filed March '7, 1893. Serial No. 464,986. (No model.)Patented in Englandiebruary 28, 189L110. 3,686; in France June 15, 1891,No. 214,142; in Belgium June 15, 1891,110. 95,260, and in Germany June17,1891, No. 61,419.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J AMES CLINTON, a subject of the Queen of GreatBritain and Ireland, residing at 313 Spencer Terrace, Earls- 5 field, inthe county of Surrey, England, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Clarinets, (for which I have obtained patents in GreatBritain, No. 3,686, bearing date February 28, 1891; in France, No.214,142,

: bearing date J une 15, 1891; in Belgium, No. 95,260, bearing date June15, 1891, and in Germany, No. 61,419, bearing date June 17, 1891,) ofwhich the following is a specification.

I This my invention relates to improvements in clarinets, and the objectof my invention is to so construct the instrument to which my inventionis applied, that it may readily and effectively be altered in pitch andtone and may thus be transposed into another key. For example a clarinetmay be changed from B fiat to A or vice versa to suit the key in whichthe music is written, thus rendering a second instrument unnecessary.

In order that my invention may be readily understood, reference is madeto the accom panying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows a clarinetconstructed in accordance with my invention a portion of the shell orcasing of the instrument being broken away. Fig. 2 shows the liningtubes of the instrument with the slots therein as hereinafter described,and Fig. 3 shows the several joints in the shell of the instrument 3 5when drawn out to their full extent, the keys of the instrument beingomitted in this figure.

In carrying my invention into effect I line the body or shell A of theinstrument with suitable tubes B B preferably of metal, the

ends of said tubes fitting or butting one against the other and being soarranged that they may be drawn out to a limited extent. The said liningtube B is formed with two sets of holes for producing the several notesof the different keys to which the instrument may be changed.

The outer casing or shell A of the instrument may be made in the usualway and in addition to the usual keys has a number of 5c screws or pinsawhich pass through the outer casing A and engage in slots 1 b in thelining tubes B and B respectively. The said slots b b are of a definitelength and are spirally arranged so that the ends of the screws anengaging in the spiral slots 19 b will allow the tubes to rotate to alimited extent thereby bringing another set of holes in the lining tubeB under the operating keys. The bell or one end of the casing of theclarinet is secured to the lining tube B and the other end or socket tothe tube B and when it is desired to alter the pitch of the instrumentthe said ends of the instrument are partially rotated in the directionindicated by the arrows in Fig. 1, which causes the before mentionedscrews a to traverse the spiral slots 17 and b thereby lengthening theinstrument and changing the key, the alteration in tone being regulatedby the length of the said slots. To prevent any accidental movement ofthe socket during the playing of the instrument I form the slot 1) inthe tube B of the shape shown in Fig. 2, and upon lengthening theinstrument as before described the end of the screw a is caused to enterthat portion of the slot marked 11 which will ef- I fectually preventany alteration in tone while the instrument is in use.

In order to facilitate the insertion of the screws a when it is desiredto connect the several portions of the instrument together,

I attach to the tubes near to the ends thereof a suitable catchconsisting preferably of a stud c and a hook d adapted to engagetherewith as shown in Fig. 3. When the hook d is in engagement with thestud c the hole in the casing of the instrument for the insertion of thescrew a will register with the slots 19 in the lining tube. The screws amay be consequently readily inserted.

As it is necessary that the joint 0 at the junction of the two mainportions of the instrument shall be of such a nature as to prevent thefinger-holes of the said portions becoming out of alignment, Iform theshoulder of the joint with a feather e or other device which willprevent the independent rotation of either part but allow the parts ofthebody to be drawn out as required.

The arrangement of the several parts may be slightly varied to suit theseparate re quirements of the various instruments to which my inventionis applicable.

Having now described my invention, what 5 I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

In a clarinet the combination with the shell or body A having telescopicjoints and having one set of openings and keys therefor, of

IO two metallic lining tubes B, B one of said tubes B having two sets ofholes for produc ing the notes of the respective keys the said tube Bbeing connected to the bell of the instrument the other of said tubes Battached to the socket, and stops for limiting the dis- 15 tance towhich the joints of the instrument are to be extended, the whole beingarranged and operating substantially as described and illustrated.

JAMES CLINTON. Witnesses:

H. W. MASTERS, P. COOKER.

